Equipment

• High temperature furnace «Nabertherm LH 15/13» (temperature up to 1300^oC);
• Furnace «Supertherm HT 16/17» (temperature up to 1750^oC);
• Equipped sol-gel laboratory with dip coating equipment  «KN 4002 KSV NIMA Dip Coater Single Vessel System Small» with software  KSV NIMA DC 3.00.. 
• Home made spray pyrolysis equpment with adjustable spray lenght and variable nozzle flow, fluid/carrier gas flow rates.
• Electric heated tube furnace with a length of 2m and a diameter of 10cm, with 3 separate controllable heating zones up to 1100⁰C

Grinding and forming

• Planetary ball mill «Retsch PM 400» un «Sand»;
• Ball mill «Carl Jäger»;
• Laboratory mill «Retsch RM 100»;
• Laboratory vacuum press «HAENDLE PZVM-8b»;
• Three table hydraulic presses «SPRUT 10/185»;
• Clay blending and extruding: Pugmill SHIMPO NRA-04S.

Sieving analysis

• Vibratory sieve shaker «Analissete 3 PRO»;
• RETSCH Vibratory Sieve Shaker AS 200 digit.

Nano and micro particle size analysis, measurement of zeta potential, pH and viscosity of solutions, suspensions and pastes

• Particle size and Zeta potential analyzers «90 Plus» and «MAS ZetaPALS Brookhaven Instr.»;
• Viscosimeter «VT550 Thermo Haake Electron Corp.» with sensor MV-DIN;
• Mettler Toledo SevenMulti pH-meter, electrode InLab® 413;
• Mettler Toledo SevenCompact conductometer, electrode with carbon sensor InLab® 731 ISM.

 Chemical analysis

• Classical chemical analysis;
• Flame photometer «Zenaway».

Analysis of phase composition, material structure, surface morphology and porosity

• X-Ray diffractometer «Rigaku Ultima +» with high temperature chamber, ICDD data bases PDF-4 + 2016, PDF-4/Organics 2016 and software Sleve+2016;
• IR Fourier spectrometer «21 Prestige Shimadzu Corp.»;
• Optical stereo microscope «Leica M420»;
• Polarization microscope «Leica DM LP» with «Leica DC» photo camera, software «Image-Pro Plus 4,5»;
• Scanning probe microscope «VEECO CP II Scanning Probe Microscope»;
• Nitrogen adsorption porosimeter «Nova 1200 E-Series», Quantachrome Instruments (pore size from 0,35 to 200nm);
• Mercury porosimeter «Pore Master 33», Quantachrome Instruments (pore size from 0,064 to 950 mkm);
• Scanning electron microscope «Hitachi TableTop Microscope TM3000»;
• Field emission low vacuum scanning electron microscope «FEI Nova NanoSEM 650» with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy „TEAM TM Integrated EDS with Apollo X SDD”.

Thermal and thermomechanical analysis, determination of mechanical properties

• High temperature derivatograph MOM (temperature range: 1000-1500^oC);
• Differential thermal and thermomechanical analysis with «SETSYS Evolution TGA-DTA/TMA SETARAM» (temperature up to 1750^oC);
• Horizontal dilatometer «L76/1600 D»;
• Shear and static load measurement with «Compression Test Plant ToniNorm», ToniTechnik by Zwick. Maximal load 300 kN, software «Setsoft 2000»;
• Nondestructive testing system designed to measure the elastic and damping properties of materials using the Impulse Excitation Technique «Buzz-O-Sonic 5,0».

Sample preparation for optical and scanning electron microscopy

• Tegramin-20 (STRUERS). Automatic, microprocessor- controlled machine for grinding and polishing of specimens
• CitoVac (STRUERS). Vacuum impregnation unit
• Minitom (STRUERS). Sample cutting unit.

Analysis of thin films and coatings

• Microhardnes test PMT 3
• TQC Wolff-Wilborn Hardness Test (pencil test) - method to test the scratch hardness of coatings.
• Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy “Metrohm Autolab” equipment, including Potentiostat/galvanostat PGSTAT302N, Impedance module FRA32M, Low current module ECD, Closable measuring cell for surfaces RHD.TSCSURF; pX1000 - pH / pX and temperature measurements module, electrodes, and NOVA software.